Haze - it can be a bugga but usually you can see straight down. I remember one flight many years ago in the Chippy, Barton to Welshpool (which was a grass strip back then - Trehelig farm!). It was very hazy with no slant viz at all. I was flying outbound, 'X' was in the back cockpit navigating and would fly the return leg.
We set off and I found Warrington and the LLR, and got established on the railway line to Crewe, and onwards to Shrewsbury intending to pick up the line to Welshpool. After a while I began to feel uneasy - the scenery, at least what little we could see of it (the haze further south wasn't as bad) didn't look right. After a while a large town appeared below us. "That's not right", I thought.
So I told 'X' to hand me the chart while he flew a big orbit over the town. I soon had it identified.
"That's bluddy Hereford" I shouted. "We must have followed the wrong railway from Shrewsbury". I chucked 'X' the map, did a 180, and flew back over Leominster and Ludlow along the railway, then up the valley past Montgomery to Welshpool where we arrived a tad later than planned!
IFR - I Follow Railways. But make sure it's the right one!
You got ice in that layer on Sunday Peter?
Yes, 2mm and building...
Interesting how localised it can be, I went through the layer twice on Saturday and again twice on Sunday - cruising for 15 minutes in it between MID and SAM on Sunday and not a spec of ice.
It was absolutely beautiful on top - I spent about 20 minutes at 3000 feet whipping in and out of the tops on Saturday, has to be one of the prettiest sights I've seen in the air (closely followed by Sunday's sunset heading back to Biggin from Newquay)
You got ice in that layer on Sunday Peter?
Yes, 2mm and building... didn't get a photo since I don't bother to photograph less than [a lot more than that] 
Seriously, I would not have wanted to fly the whole DME arc and ILS into Lydd in that layer.
You got ice in that layer on Sunday Peter?
Went up and down through it twice, and cruised in it for a little while under the 3,500 TMA - didn't see any ice at all.
Was lovely on top though :-)
Yes, it was like that on Saturday too. Climbing through the muck, I did not pick up icing, on top the temp was +3 or 4 if I remember correctly so I did not think much about icing until descending into it again we started to pick up some icing. Melted almost immediately we I broke cloud, still, it was fun. :-) My passengers did not think so. Hehehehe.
Sorry, I am referring to one of Peter's earlier posts. Will have to lean how to use the quotes or whatever. :-)
Wonderful vis today, almost 3k in places No GPS just look down and see where you are.
This is what one usually finds on top of an inversion; this is from a few days ago
You Brits just stop moaning and just move here! :)
I dont mind a bit of haze, it's where having an IMCr and at least one GPS system makes it relatively easy work. I wouldnt be so keen if I didnt have a GPS as spotting lakes, towns, churches or whatever is pretty hard going at the best of times.
Plus, if it's a low haze layer, then its normally crystal clear above, with nice smooth flight conditions, and you can see traffic much easier than even 10k viz below. What would concern me would be haze that turns into fog and prevents safe flight and a safe landing, especially as my home airfield is A/G and has no published approaches. In the early morning, I'd want to trends showing improvements in cloud base or viz to make sure it wasnt going to deterioate to fog, and in the late evening likewise I'd be cautious.
On Sunday, SFC was +5C, cloud layer 2000ft-3500ft with -3C inside (and plenty of ice), and +6C at 4000ft
So much for met theory... I don't think I have seen a "standard day" in 11 years.
